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"The bones are finished, don't forget to flesh them out."
When someone asked me to write a letter for them, I first got a basic understanding of the purpose of the letter to be sent, then wrote it accordingly. As I did not have the specific names of people mentioned in the document, or the name and address to where it was to be sent and other specifics, I left spaces for these to be filled in later.
I wrote the above statement in the email that I attached the letter to.
This saying meant that I have written the main information of the letter, but I omitted some details and for the letter to be considered finished, the missing details needed to be added, just as a body is not a body unless it is bones and flesh.

There used to be a saying, "'ain't' ain't a word!" It was a pseudo instructional sentence to express the fact that "ain't" was not proper English and should not be used. Of course, now, with slang and poor English being so much more accepted in common use, you don't hear people say this as much. Here's a few other points:
“AIN’T AIN’T A WORD!“
…but we use it often anyway!
Ain’t means, “am not”, or simply, “not”. i.e.:
I ain’t goin’ to the store now. He ain’t goin’ either.
I ain’t that person.
We ain’t there yet.
I ain’t go (yesterday). It's actually an extreme slur of," I didn’t go yesterday" but will sound like this to a non-native. (The “t” in ain’t is sometimes dropped and just a hard stop added. More on that topic later.
Ain’t happenin’/happening, it ain’t happenin’/happening, it ain’t happening. This is a phrase that we often use to express that I don’t now, nor will I ever have any intention of doing something, or letting something happen. You will hear both “happenin’” as well as “happening” when we use this phrase.
“I’m not ever going to do something like that”, becomes, “Ain’t happenin’”, and if we want to be more emphatic about it, we would say, “No, it ain’t happenin’/happening”.
Tip: listen carefully. The 't' sound at the end is often dropped and only a hard stop used.

Sometimes, the correct response to a question is unclear. For instance, if I ask you: "So, you didn't get to go to the mall yesterday?" (and you did not go), the correct response, natively spoken, would be, "no".
The common logic would be that, "no, I didn't get to go" is a double negative statement, which makes it a positive statement as the two negative words-"no" added to "didn't (did not)"-would cancel each other, and means that you DID actually get to go to the mall (a positive statement).
I know this is what you are taught here, and normally it is true.
In this case however, the person responding, would say, "no", because they are simply confirming the statement, not adding to it. i.e.:
So, you didn't get to go to the mall yesterday?"
"no" or "no, I didn't"
The second response, "no, I didn't" makes your answer clearer-that you are confirming what the other person asked.
Please don't stress too much when you hear a native do this; even WE sometimes ask for clarification when all we get is a one word answer, because we do know about the double negative rule.
Responding by saying, "no, I didn't", shows that you are confirming their assumption, not adding to their sentence.
I hope this is clear. If not, ask me here and I'll try to help more. (When I get on here next. See my profile and the SpeakAlley blog for more.)

This vehicle is an unexpected element in this garden water feature. A rusted 1950s truck has been backed down to the water’s edge. The tumbling waterfall gently spills out of the back of the truck, emphasizing the impression that the truck has deliberately backed down to the water's edge to unload its cargo.
The large bush on the left of the photo makes you almost expect to see a driver milling around the front of the truck assessing the scene, making the next thought that of a truck which has backed too close to the water’s edge and has gotten stuck in the mud that you would normally expect to see there. The large clump of grass further teases the eye as it inhibits a clear view of the bank, from this vantage point, of whether this was a deliberate attempt to back into the water or a simple mistake in judgement.
Of course, all of this conjecture is only from images remembered; this scenario was deliberately arranged in this way, but this playful scene reminds me of so many memories of my time living in the country.
What new words did you learn? Any questions?

This is just a little vocabulary builder, insha Allah, for those of you who want to take the time to look up the words that I use. While a proof-reader/editor might change the structure of a couple of sentences, I decided to keep things as a native would speak these sentences, though a native would not speak so formally unless he/she was orating. Here are my thoughts on this photo:
“Serenity” is the first word that comes to my mind when I see this photograph. The distant mountains provide the perfect backdrop to invoke the feeling of seclusion to this mountain home. Although my first glance at this makes me think that this is a river, after enlarging the photo to write this commentary, I notice that the image gives at least an illusion of the water extending to the left of the cottage, as if its path forks before the tall pine trees in the center of the scene. This leads me to wonder if heavy rains and melting snow have surrounded this cozy dwelling or if the water is, in fact, more of a small lake-some might even call it a large pond. Due to the mirrored reflections on its still, glassy surface, I tend to believe the latter, although it is likely fed by some type of flowing source further up, be it a river or a stream. The grasses that divide the two bodies of water suggest that the water level is receding and due to the vibrant colors of the flora found here, I would easily guess this was taken in the spring, further supporting the snow melt as the cause of so much water. Because this cabin is so secluded in these mountains, my guess would have to be that the water is both a permanent feature here and is also engorged due to the spring season and its consequences in these mountain ranges.
While wind can be a daunting factor in the mountains, this area is surrounded by higher mountains and plenty of pine trees and the fact that the dwelling is situated on lower ground than its surroundings would help to buffer the force of the gusts. The evergreen nature of pines and the proximity of the trees to the house would be a welcome guard against the driving winter snows.
Whatever the true cause of the water here, this peaceful get-a-way looks like the perfect respite from the toils and troubles of everyday life and though permanent residence here would assuredly be its own cause of difficulties, a temporary vacation in a place like this would definitely give the vacationer a place of quiet contemplation.

Hello everyone. I have to cancel the sessions for the next few weeks. I will be back as soon as I can; I will announce my return here. If you are following me, my post will show up on your Posts page. Take care everyone.

Whenever you only have two items that you are listing, use “and” or “or”; use a comma between three or more but you should still use “and” or “or” between the last two in the list. I.e. one and two; one or two; one, two and three; one, two, three or four. No comma is used between the words that encompass “and” or “or”, as in the above examples.